Scottish Executive

Ambulance Service

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many ambulance shifts were not covered in Lanarkshire in each month since January 2002.

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the current level of ambulance cover is in Lanarkshire; what level of cover it considers appropriate, and whether it is acceptable for there to be periods when no ambulance cover is available in the area.

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many ambulance call-outs there have been in Lanarkshire in each month since January 2002 and what the (a) average and (b) target response times were in each of these months.

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what measures are in place to ensure that there is adequate ambulance cover in Lanarkshire during periods when demand for the service is expected to increase.

Malcolm Chisholm: This is an operational matter for the Scottish Ambulance Service.

Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to amend or replace relevant provisions of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 in order to legislate for the licensing, regulation and monitoring of private vehicle hire companies and those involved in the ownership and operation of such companies.

Peter Peacock: The Executive proposes to consult in the near future on the terms of regulations which will allow local authorities to license taxi and private hire car booking offices.

Food Standards

Janis Hughes (Glasgow Rutherglen) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action has been taken following the publication of Task Force on E.coli O157: Final Report in 2001.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Task Force on E.coli O157 was intended to address many diverse issues underpinning the history of E.coli O157 infection in Scotland in an open, innovative and holistic way. The substantive report which emerged from that process in 2001 was cogent and compelling. It provides a fine example of the value which can emerge from the inclusive, cross-cutting and action oriented ethos which is the foundation for all the work of the Scottish Executive. The Executive and the Food Standards Agency (Scotland) are grateful to the chairman and members of the task force, for producing an excellent report and a comprehensive range of related recommendations.

  Since July 2001, the Scottish Executive and the Food Standards Agency (Scotland) have been working, with others, including UK Government Departments and NHSScotland, to consider, cost and implement the detailed recommendations made by the task force. We have already achieved a great deal, for example:

  the Food Standards Agency has initiated a £20 million "Food Hygiene" awareness and publicity campaign which will incorporate food safety advice on E.coli O157;

  the Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health (SCIEH) has been provided with appropriate additional funding from 2001-02, in order to initiate an enhanced programme of infection and disease surveillance;

  formal guidance has been issued to the National Reference Laboratory (SERL) restating protocols consistent with task force recommendations;

  guidance has been issued to water authorities on the need to give particular attention to testing water from high-risk catchment areas for coliforms and E.coli O157;

  Private Water Supply Regulation: a consultation was issued in November 2001;

  Guidance on Recreational Use of Animal Pasture, was distributed to relevant organisations in March 2002, and

  the Cairns Smith Group has taken account of task force recommendations relevant to outbreak management and published revised guidance in April 2002.

  The Scottish Executive and the Food Standards Agency (Scotland) will build on those achievements, given the continuing threat posed by E.coli O157 and the many diverse actions proposed by the task force.

  The Scottish Executive and the Food Standards Agency (Scotland) have today published a joint response to the report of the Task Force on E.coli O157. Copies have been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre. The report is also available on both the Scottish Executive and Food Standards Agency (Scotland) website.

Landfill Tax

Mr Andrew Welsh (Angus) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what financial impact the increase in landfill tax announced in the UK Budget 2002 will have on each local authority and what additional financial resources will be allocated to each local authority specifically to compensate for the increase.

Peter Peacock: The intention to increase the rate of landfill tax for active waste from £12 to £13 per tonne in April 2002 had previously been announced in the Government’s 1999 Budget. The tax is intended to be an incentive for all those disposing of waste, including local authorities, to deal with it in more sustainable ways. The financial impact of the tax will depend on decisions made by local authorities about the disposal of waste.

Modernising Government

Angus MacKay (Edinburgh South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what projects will benefit from the second round of the Modernising Government Fund.

Mr Andy Kerr: The second round of the Modernising Government Fund has up to £30 million at its disposal, an increase on the first-round fund and double the amount that was originally announced. It is committed to promoting a citizen-focused approach to modernising the delivery of public services in Scotland across several key areas.

  I am pleased to announce today that I have been able to provide funding of more than £16 million to support seven key public sector partnership projects, including £5.4 million to develop services to young people and a young persons smartcard, £4.7 million to support local authorities in the development of citizen-focused information systems, £1.4 million to support the NHS and local authorities to develop common social work data standards and single shared assessments and £4.9 million to help establish a national land and property database for Scotland.

  Many other individual bids to the fund pursue common themes, including education services, transport services and electronic health care services. I propose to use the balance of the £30 million fund to encourage a number of these bidders to form further partnerships to pursue these themes and promote them through strategic public sector projects across Scotland.

Prison Service

Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-25133 by Mr Jim Wallace on 1 May 2002, whether it will show the performance points accrued by the operating company of HM Prison Kilmarnock broken down for each heading in Schedule F to the  Minute of Agreement between the Secretary of State for Scotland and Kilmarnock Prison Services Ltd for the Design, Construction, Management and Financing of a Prison at Kilmarnock  and for each year of operation of the contract.

The following is a corrected answer; originally published on 16 May 2002:

Mr Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  The performance points are listed in the following table.

  

 

Year 1 
  

Year 2 
  

Year 3 
  



2.1(c) 
  

0 
  

30 
  

30 
  



2.1(d) 
  

50 
  

0 
  

0 
  



2.1(e) 
  

135 
  

15 
  

0 
  



2.1(f) 
  

90 
  

0 
  

0 
  



2.1(g) 
  

150 
  

50 
  

100 
  



2.1(h) 
  

55 
  

55 
  

0 
  



2.1(i) 
  

185 
  

125 
  

260 
  



2.2(a) 
  

290 
  

230 
  

235 
  



2.2(b) 
  

225 
  

295 
  

645 
  



2.2(c) 
  

160 
  

20 
  

40 
  



2.2(d) 
  

0 
  

0 
  

10 
  



2.2(f) 
  

170 
  

65 
  

110 
  



2.2(g) 
  

580 
  

750 
  

1,170 
  



2.2(h) 
  

285 
  

100 
  

185 
  



2.2(i) 
  

5 
  

0 
  

0 
  



2.2(k) 
  

0 
  

0 
  

10 
  



2.2(l) 
  

6 
  

2 
  

2 
  



2.2(m) 
  

12 
  

16 
  

4 
  



2.3(e) 
  

81 
  

0 
  

0 
  



2.3(g) 
  

45 
  

0 
  

0 
  



2.3(h) 
  

130 
  

0 
  

0 
  



2.3(i) 
  

55 
  

0 
  

0 
  



2.4(a) 
  

30 
  

0 
  

0 
  



2.4(b) 
  

105 
  

365 
  

175 
  



2.4(c) 
  

20 
  

0 
  

0 
  



2.4(d) 
  

65 
  

140 
  

240 
  



2.4(e) 
  

270 
  

0 
  

0 
  



2.4(f) 
  

5 
  

10 
  

25 
  



2.4(g) 
  

0 
  

0 
  

0 
  



2.5(b) 
  

639 
  

0 
  

2 
  



Total 
  

3,843 
  

2,268 
  

3,243

Scottish Water

Tavish Scott (Shetland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps have been taken to remake the Direction to Scottish Water on action to be taken in the interests of national security or in a civil emergency.

Ross Finnie: The Secretary of State for Scotland laid the Water Industry (Scotland) Act 2002 (Directions in the Interests of National Security) Order 2002 on 8 May 2002. This order will come into force on 31 May 2002 and following the consultation set out in the order, I expect to make a Security and Emergency Measures Direction to Scottish Water in June 2002. Copies of the draft Order (SI 1264 (S4)) have been lodged in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 21338).

Tourism

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how it intends to encourage business to subscribe to the emerging Scottish tourism brand in order to improve the consistency of the national marketing message as referred to in objective 1.1 of its Tourism Framework for Action 2002-05 .

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how it plans to inform tourists of their best direct access options when planning transport routes to Scotland as referred to in objective 3.2 of its Tourism Framework for Action 2002-05 .

Mike Watson: VisitScotland will do this in a number of ways: by direct communication with businesses; through the area tourist boards and the tourism trade associations, and through other channels such as the dedicated trade website Scotexchange.net.

Tourism

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans local authorities have to make sign-posting in rural areas adequate in order to meet the needs of local residents and visitors as referred to in objective 2.1 of its Tourism Framework for Action 2002-05 .

Mike Watson: This is a matter for local authorities, who are best placed to consider the needs of local residents and visitors.

  SODD Circular 27/1995 "Tourist Signposting", which is available on the Scottish Executive website, gives advice to local authorities when considering such issues.

Tourism

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive which research programmes and best practice case studies it uses when analysing tourists and tourism activity as referred to in objective 1.3 of its Tourism Framework for Action 2002-05 .

Mike Watson: This is an operational matter for VisitScotland.

Tourism

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the definition is of new tourism as referred to in objective 1.2 of its Tourism Framework for Action 2002-05 .

Mike Watson: During 2000 and 2001, Scottish Enterprise worked with industry and public sector partners to apply the cluster approach to the development of tourism in Scotland. The key outcome of this work was an industry-led vision and strategy, under the title "New Tourism". This work was a major input to the subsequent development of the Executive’s Tourism Framework for Action .

Tourism

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how Highlands and Islands Enterprise plans to promote and provide opportunities for managers of tourism businesses to develop their business leadership skills as referred to in objective 1.1 of its Tourism Framework for Action 2002-05 .

Mike Watson: This is an operational matter for Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

Tourism

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what work it is carrying out to attract major cultural and sporting events to Scotland as referred to in objective 2.4 of its Tourism Framework for Action 2002-05 .

Mike Watson: The Executive has established a Major Events Steering Group to take forward this work. This includes VisitScotland,  sportscotland, the Scottish Arts Council, Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Glasgow and Edinburgh cities and COSLA. We have appointed consultants, Objective Performance Limited, to help us develop a major events strategy for Scotland. Their team includes Craig McLatchey, former Head of the Australian Olympic Committee, responsible for delivering the highly successful Millennium Olympic Games in Sydney. Consultation is in progress and I expect a report in the autumn.

Tourism

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to encourage business to appropriately price and process bookings from tourists in euros as referred to in objective 2.3 of its Tourism Framework for Action 2002-05 .

Mike Watson: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-25789 today. VisitScotland is a member of the Scottish Euro Forum.

Tourism

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive why it is the responsibility of business to be aware of local public transport options and needs as referred to in objective 2.2 of its Tourism Framework for Action 2002-05 .

Mike Watson: One of the key objectives of the framework document is to assist businesses to identify actions that they can take, in order to provide a better standard of service to their customers. An example of improved service is the readily available provision of information about matters such as local public transport options.

Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body

Apprenticeships

Andrew Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Presiding Officer how many people were employed by the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body in each of the last three years and, of these, how many were participants in the Modern Apprenticeship scheme, broken down by framework.

Sir David Steel: The number of staff in post in each of the last three years is as follows:

  Year ending 31 March 2000 - 346 staff in post

  Year ending 31 March 2001 - 424 staff in post

  Year ending 31 March 2002 - 454 staff in post

  No member of staff employed by the SPCB has been employed through or was a participant in the Modern Apprenticeship scheme.

  Correction The reply to question S1W-25569, which was originally answered on 16 May 2002, has been corrected: see page 779